House Of The Dead (Ws)

Uwe Boll's HOUSE OF THE DEAD, based on a video game, manages to capture the goofy, giddy flavor of the drive-in features and Saturday morning cartoons of the 1970s. The story involves a sextet of attractive, romantically entangled Seattle hipsters who hire a boat manned by a salty sea captain (Jurgen Prochnow) to take them to an island rave. Unfortunately, there is a legend surrounding the island which they do not heed: an evil, immortal Spaniard has been conducting experiments with the undead there for centuries. Countless numbers of shambling zombies are in fact already poised to being a massive attack on the invading ravers. By the time the gang lands, most everyone at the party has already been killed and joined the ranks of the living dead. Fortunately, the captain is also an arms smuggler and soon the dwindling survivors are geared up with heavy artillery, blasting their way through the hordes in high video-game style. Pumping hard core techno rap fusion, swooping MATRX-style camera moves, manic editing, ample gore effects, clips from the actual video game, and a dash of nudity all coalesce to keep things lively. Those who like their horror a little on the cheesy side may just find themselves in zombie-movie nirvana.